Firing the pollsters — Steve Dennis

We get news we don’t want or like all of the time. Some of it with significant consequences; most of it (thankfully) much less so.

The job we didn’t get. Unrequited love. A serious medical diagnosis. Any and all of these can send us into a downward spiral.

If you are anything like me, you may find yourself fighting the more mundane “injustices” we suffer as well. The delayed flight. The long line at the grocery store. The traffic jam on the way to work.

Alas, we may not like our reality, but reality doesn’t care. Facts are stubborn things. Gravity always wins.

What we must be called to do is discern between the things we cannot change and the things we can.

And when we get news we don’t like that is, in fact, a product of our own doing, the worst thing we can do is shoot the messenger or fire the pollster.

I’ve enjoyed the temporary high from doing the blame game. I’ve disappeared into victimhood more times than I care to mention. But reality is a patient friend. And the sooner we embrace him the better.

Originally published at https://stevenpdennis.com on June 19, 2019.